The Steps He Took
by shadowcat012
Summary: "He needed a clever way to get to her and his friends could gawk at him all they wanted, if this was a step forward, he was taking it." ReidxOC companion piece to Our Bond.


**A/N:** It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to write as a follow up to _Our Bond_. This isn't it. But it did come to me as I was planning out the other one. For those who haven't read _Our Bond,_ I don't believe you have to read it to understand this. For those who have followed over from _Our Bond,_ I hope you enjoy this companion piece, because I'll admit I'm a bit iffy about it.

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**Study Session**

It had never occurred to her that he'd never seen one. He'd rolled his eyes at her dumbfounded expression and remarked on the fact that it was "a bit cold" where they lived for hummingbirds to truly thrive. She'd immediately shut her mouth and fought down a blush at her thoughtlessness.

"I've just never gone a summer without seeing one." She'd admitted defensively. She'd then shut the book she'd been reading from as her gaze wandered towards the nearest window.

Reid watched as she did so then snatched the book from her hands to flip through the pages himself.

"Come on, Cortez, this paper is due in an hour."

It had taken several days for Reid to get his shit together (Pogue's words) and ask for Evelyn's help on a term paper. It had nothing to do with hummingbirds, but as he had planned, they had gotten to talking about miscellaneous things.

Pogue had outright laughed when he caught on to Reid's uncharacteristic plan.

"Getting her to help you with homework so you can get to know her, what are you, twelve?"

Reid had then creatively told Pogue to shut it.

He'd tried going straight up to her; well, he'd thought about it more like. He still had a reputation to uphold and publicly asking a nobody at school out was just going to ask for trouble. Not to mention, she would totally be type to shut down and ignore his advances. He needed a clever way to get to her and his friends could gawk at him all they wanted, if this was a step forward, he was taking it.

Only problem was, the step forward felt like an extremely small one.

It had started off well enough; she'd reserved a private study room for them to meet in. But, then she'd sat across the table from him. It took great effort on his part to bite back the remark that it would have made more sense for them to sit side by side. But not matter. He had her for three hours, they were bound to move around eventually.

She had been all business and no nonsense, keeping her hair pulled tightly back away from her face and only sometimes playing with it whenever she deeply considered a question he broached.

"Do you participate in school events at all?"

Slowly, she lifted her head. It took a moment longer for her gaze to leave the text and focus on him.

"What?"

Okay, so the first two hours were agonizing. She was a stone wall and he couldn't get through. He ran his hands down his face then slammed them on the table and pushed himself up to his feet to pace around the table. She continued to calmly read from a passage she believed would help his thesis. But her words went right over him until he caught on to the words "wings of the hummingbird" and he just couldn't take it.

"That doesn't help me the slightest bit. I've never even seen a hummingbird in my life. How do I know the damn thing even exists?"

At this point he had stopped pacing just behind where Evelyn sat. With his hands on his hips, he stared down at the crown of her head equally as eager for her response as he was for her to turn and face him.

She leaned back into her seat and sighed.

"Wow, are you always such a drama queen? What do you mean you've never seen one before, don't you go on the internet?"

He rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"I thought it was better to write from experience. It's the only way to know something is real-isn't that what writers go by?"

She seemed hesitant to go along with this thought.

"Sure, most do, I guess." _It would depend on the writing_, she thought to herself. "But a lot of papers are written purely based on research. That's why they're called research papers."

Reid crossed his arms and considered the girl for a moment. "So when women write love scenes in their sappy romance novels, would that be from experience or research because the outcome is pretty lame. I think we should stay clear of their way."

Uncomfortable with talking to him over her shoulder, Evelyn stood and paced to the other side of the table.

"I don't know, it could be a mix of experience and imagination. How would you know they're lame?" She raised her eyebrows and there was a glint in her eyes that sparked heat in his abdomen.

He shrugged.

"It's a principle. They're all lame, aren't they?"

"The guys on the covers would suggest so." Then, before he could jump on asking her whether or not she'd actually read a trashy romance, she directed them back to safer ground. "Really, you've never seen a hummingbird?"

And there was the shut down.

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_Note: This can be expanded to a multi-chaptered story...one day. Let me know what you think. _


End file.
